God's Great Outdoors

Now on this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is at Cedarville University located in Cedarville Ohio. His guest on this program is Dr. John Whitmore, who teaches geology and paleontology at Cedarville University. Dr. John shares with the listeners how he got involved as a young man running around the woods of Ohio, collecting rocks, arrowheads and fossils. John is considered to be the world’s leading authority on fossilized fish, and he discusses how he did his research in this area of expertise. Gerry & John talk about the annual fossil hunt done every year near the Creation Museum that sees families attend from many different states. The fossils are everywhere, and the attendees get to keep what they find. This is a wonderful outdoor outreach event the listener can do with God’s Great Outdoors and invite their friends and relatives to join them to hear about the Bible’s Flood and see proof!

This week’s Trail To Adventure! has Gerry at one of the conferences GGO does across the country teaching “How To” do outdoor outreach ministry. The author of the tract "Up in Smoke," Bob Hodgdon, tells the story of how his dad's business, Hodgdon Powder, had its beginnings after World War II. Bob shares a funny story "now," of how as a 10 year old boy he almost blew up their house; his parents didn't find out about this until a family reunion 35 years later. Bob relates what a reader would see in the tract of how an explosion at one of their factories and four funerals for Christians, who were killed at that tragedy, brought him to receive Jesus Christ. It was during these funeral services and seeing how the men being buried, their family and friends, though sorrowful, rejoiced and celebrated their homecomings in Heaven. Bob didn't know what they had or what was different about them, but he just knew he had to have it too.

This week’s Trail To Adventure! the interview is with Dan Ryks, a charter boat captain on the Mississippi River, in Minnesota. Dan tells the story of how he came to Christ in prison. He went in an angry man who was always fighting and came out totally opposite of how he went in. Gerry and Dan talk about how Dan, born in 1965, used to, along with about 12 other boys, carry their shotguns to school to shoot ducks on the way. These young men all left their guns in the principal’s office, took them out at lunch to hunt ducks, then again as they traveled home. The point Gerry reflects on is how they were allowed guns in school, had The Ten Commandments, and there were no school shootings back then. Today – can’t mention Jesus, no Ten Commandments or guns in schools and there are school shootings. Why?

This week’s program of the Trail To Adventure! has us visiting the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. Gerry visits with ministry founder Ken Hamm and discusses the topic of how sin, then death has affected the world since Adam and Eve. Ken shares the consequences of sin on the human race spelled out in the book of Genesis on the first man Adam and how this was overcome by our Creator God, Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. This program will clearly help the listeners understand what took place in the beginning and how God’s gift to us was His son Jesus who paid the penalty for all our sins, past, present and future, if we receive that gift.

On this week's Trail To Adventure! Gerry’s interview is with Dennis and Peggy Robinson who relate an experience that happened when they were dairy farmers in Wisconsin. Dennis placed himself before God and everything in his life was about him and what he wanted in life. His wife Peggy had turned him over to the Lord and said, "You need to deal with him, Lord, he is yours." Two days later Dennis was pulled half way through a hay wagon mechanical apparatus and was not expected to live from the massive injuries he received. Yet, God had a plan, and it included transforming a man to be what God wanted him to be. Clearly this is an interview we can all benefit from and a direction to move to also!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is visiting with Jim Butler in the Pennsylvania’s scenic Appalachian Mountains. Jim & his wife Barbra own & operate Strath an De Farm, which in Celtic means “God’s Valley.” The beautiful forest setting is the location for annual summer father & son retreats. Also, a father & daughter event camp, that both are designed to make lasting memories in the lives of those who attend each year, plus draw them to the Creator God. Jim shares about the numerous activities these men & their children join in together with the goal of deepening the family bond & one’s personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. The farm sees over 500 total attend each year & is a “no cost” event, with a free will offering taken!

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! Gerry is at Lake Ellen Camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the camp’s program director, Nick Hucle. Gerry had been invited to come as the speaker for one of the week long summer children’s camps. Lake Ellen Camp in Crystal Falls has events going on all year, with the summertime being the most active. Nick Hucle tells the listeners about hunting adventures with his parents as a kid and more. Nick relates his and his wife, Cory Ann’s history in the area of being campers and then their moving to camping ministry itself. He relates what the campers, counselors and staff experience at the camp and how he’s seen attendees work up through the different stations over the years, by the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. This would be an excellent place not only to sent children as campers, but also for those wanting to learn to do work in outdoor ministry, as a life career.

On this week’s Trail To Adventure! we’ll discover how freelance writer, Tracy Breen, got started in outdoor writing. Visiting Tracy at his home in Michigan, he shares how he and his wife juggle his work at writing with his families need, as he plays “Mr. Mom”, watching the kids at home while he compiles his articles. Tracy also relates how he has trained a dog to hunt turkeys, which is legal in some states adding a fun way to hunt in the fall. He also describes how he accidentally shot himself one spring on one of his many turkey hunting adventures. This blunder with his shotgun could have cost him his life. He gives the Lord the credit for who he is and how Jesus has given him all he has, including the writing skills that are helping him fulfill his dream of being an outdoor writer.

This week’s Trail To Adventure! interview is with Pastor Dan Williams from Manitoba, Canada as he visits with Gerry at Rushing Wind Retreat Center in Ontario, Canada. A remote location to the point, those who attend are brought in by float plane. A fishing trip many folks dream of, and so opens the door for bringing along unsaved friends and relatives who need Jesus. Dan tells the story of his desire to catch a big lake trout and despite the bad weather conditions decided to go way up the lake and try for one. On heading back, the storm had really blown in and the wind wouldn’t allow the boat through a narrow, shallow area. Dan tried gunning the motor and broke the shear pin, which was only the beginning of the adventure!

The topic on this week’s Trail To Adventure! is on Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Gerry visits with Billy (Catfish) Parker and his wife Laura at the C’Meer Deer booth during the annual Archery Trade Assn. Show that was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in February of 2015. Both of these outdoor recreationalists share stories of the adventures and the battle that is encountered by a tiny insect at least eight months of the year. Ticks! Laura has been infected with both Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but early detection helped in her treatment being a quick ordeal. Billy however, went a number of years before his Lyme Disease was discovered causing extended and daily treatments that lasted many months. Their hope is as they tell this story; is it will help keep others from having to go through the same mess they experienced!